This photo was taken during the Canada Day Celebration Fireworks in the Nations Capital, Ottawa. The system used was a Canon Powershot SX10 IS, as I am still an amateur, I used the Fireworks preset with a 8.1mm focal length and an ISO of 80. At the time of the photograph I was standing in the middle of the street surrounded with people, and just as captivated by the display as everyone else. I managed to hold my camera towards the night sky and hoped to captured a few images. Seen in this photograph is a firework mid burst, with the trailing smoke puffs of previous fireworks migrating in front of it.
-John Mosquera

Advertisement

Canon XSi w/ 18-55 IS kit lens on tripod with cable release
ISO 200
f/11
5"
Basically, I set everything up with the settings and frame I figured would work well, put it on continuous shoot, and left the cable release button locked to keep taking 5-second exposures. I laid back on the blanket with my lady friend and enjoyed the show with her, instead of behind the viewfinder. Afterwords, I brought it home and found that I had DOZENS of perfect pictures (dozens of crappy ones too). We felt this one captured the experience the best with a slight glow from the horizon.
-Tom Burritt

Canon Rebel XS with EF70-300 IS, f/5, 165mm, 1/8s.
Taken from a rooftop in Baltimore. As there were a number of people
on the rooftop, I had to do all my shots without a tripod. There was
a stupid tree in the way so I decided to make it part of my
composition.
-Joseph Galante

Nikon D5000 w/ Nikkor 55-200mm telephoto lens
ISO 400
f/8
Exposure 1/50s
At my local fireworks display for the 4th, the high-in-the-air bursts
weren't giving me what I wanted, but when the low shells started being
set off I loved the way the plumes of smoke curled behind the rockets.
-Beth Knutson

Canon T1i
18-55mm lens
44 mm
tripod
f/8.0
ISO 100
3 sec shutter speed
I took this at the local fireworks show near L.A. Simple but pretty. Enjoy
-Chelsea Ranton

Nikon D300s
Nikkor 18-200mm
f/10, 5.0 second exposure @ ISO 200
Started the lens at 18mm and zoomed into 200mm during the exposure to try and get a interesting effect.
-Chuck Pepper Jr.

My Husband and I were running late to see the Eisenhower Park (LI, NY) Fireworks Display Sat. 7/3/10. Best we could do was the Home Depot/Michael's Parking lot, about two miles away, and even that was crowded. We ended up behind a bush, some trees, and with 2 street lamps in the view. The bush & trees kind of frame the fireworks & the lamps almost look like part of the display. I used my point & shoot - Fujifilm Fine Pix F30 (in fireworks mode) & my Joby Gorillapod, mounted on the car door with the window rolled down. This shot was f/8 & 4 sec exposure, focal length 18.1, ISO 100.
-Lynn DeLuca

After my wife and I decided to stay in for the 4th, I posted up in our backyard with my Nikon D80, a tri-pod set atop our patio table, and began shooting the fireworks around our house.
D80
Tri-Pod w/ wireless remote
Nikkor 50mm lens
F-Stop: 5
Exposure time: 30 seconds
ISO 100
-Chris Torrens

I was shooting from about halfway between the Capitol building and the
Washington monument using a Sony Alpha and a Tamron 75-300mm lens, ISO
100, bulb mode. After trying to shoot in Aperture mode where the
shutter speed would be determined by the camera, I realised that the
camera was detecting the light before the fireworks when off or when
they were brightest so my pictures would end up very dark or washed
out. I decided to get out my wireless remote switch into manual mode
(bulb shutter speed) and learn a bit more about photography. I set
the aperture and after a few shots I was able to start estimating how
bright the shot would be based on how long the shutter was open and
the relative brightness of the fireworks. Eventually I got my timing
down for capturing the right moment when fireworks would go off and
ended up with this shot.
-Jeff Bruins

Camera: Nikon D80
Lens: 18-135mm Nikkor (135mm when shot)
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/16
Shutter: 5.2s (in Bulb mode)
Hand Held
Shot was taken from on top of a local hill that gathers quite a crowd every 4th of July. Its the highest point in a really flat area and you can see at least 5 different fireworks. People seemed to get a kick out of me taking photos. 4th of July is important to my and my wife because its the day (3 years ago) we got engaged. We are currently living in different states while I finish grad school but make an effort every year to get together for the 4th. We're getting ready to move and this was our last 4th in the town where we met, fell in love, and went to school.
-Todd Fernandez

Location: Galveston, TX
Camera: Canon 20D
Lens: 50 mm 1.8
ISO: 1600
Aperture: f/18
Shutter Speed: 5.0s
Yes, I drove an hour plus a ferry to go to the fireworks display. I wanted something more than fireworks; I wanted to capture the moment. People sitting on the beach looking at the fireworks by a hotel over the water that was destroyed by Hurricane Ike. That was my intention and I think I achieved it with this picture. This was my first attempt at fireworks pictures and long exposures. I was pleasantly surprised with all the results.
-Angela Gillis

Living in Montreal, Canada, not Montreal, Quebec, the fireworks were far away from my tepee (built post igloo-melt). So, being the tree-hugger I am, I chose the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation known to Canadian-kind: rollerblading. Carrying a tripod and other camera equipment while swerving through horse-drawn carriages and the cobblestones of Old-Port were easy in comparison rollerblading.
I skidded down to the shore where I took this still. As I had no external shutter release trigger, and since pressing the camera's trigger caused pictures to blur, I took a series of eighty photos all on a timer. The timing was all up to chance but I was lucky to get a few right in the end.
I hope you enjoy the photos! Now, please excuse me while I go hunt for our favorite delicacy: beaver tails. I freaking love beaver meat.
-Brendan Fraser

Olympus E-500
set to firework mode
F/11
4 sec.
ISO-100
40mm
Photo was taken at Isle of Palm, SC. They shoot the fireworks from a pier over the ocean. Since people line the beach I found one of the best places to take photos without people in the way is the ocean; this also gives a nice reflection off the water and waves. I set my tripod in calf high water and took numerous photos in manual and fireworks settings, doing my best to steady the camera through the waves.
-Alejandro Torres

EXIF:
Canon T2i
Sigma 10-20mm @ 10mm
f/8
shutter speed: 5 seconds (bulb mode)
ISO: 100
I took this photo at the Canada Day celebrations in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. I set up across the river to where they were setting off the fireworks and I think it really paid off. The fireworks only lasted about 10 minutes so I was taking pictures the whole time. This was one of my favourites of the set.
-Rob Fraser

I took this with my 12MP Canon PowerShot using the "Fireworks" preset.
-Kevin Smith

The picture was taken last night, July 4th. My camera (Canon T2i using the stock 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 lens) was set to an 8 second exposure, ISO 100, 18mm/f5. I placed my camera on a table and set the timer to 2 seconds (I was too buzzed to look for a longer timer setting). It was difficult to frame the picture in the dark, but I had my friends hold their cell phones facing the camera as markers and then we put chairs at the edge of the frame and stood between the chairs. We had a candle on the ground and everyone used it to light their sparkler at the same time. I ran to grab my sparkler from my wife and the hand-off is why the "I" and the "Heart" are connected. Also, a chunk of sparkleage (sp?) fell off my sparkler and created that line that goes down to to the ground.
-Sarmad Nazemi

Canon 550D
24-105 f4L
ISO 100
24mm
f / 9.0
1 sec
This submission is coming from the far ends of the earth. Singapore, that is. I moved over here a year ago and have been able to indulge myself with interests that I have always had, photography being being on of them. The Naval base hols a Fourth of July celebration every year so I thought it would be the perfect time time for my first entry to the weekly photo contest.
Camera, lens and photo details:
-Brian Miculka

Canon XSi
28-135mm canon ultrasonic lens
ISO 200
Shutter Speed 10 seconds
Aperture 8
The local minor league baseball team shoots off fireworks every year after the game. So I live about a couple miles away and can see them from my house but decided to get closer. So we found a dirt road that was right next to where they were launching them off and this is what the result produced. I didn't intentionally try to make the fireworks come out of the chimney but when I transferred all my pictures I saw this and thought it looked cool.
-Andrew Jansen

I personally did not take the pictures. A friend did because I was lighting the fireworks :-) . The camera was a Nikon CoolPix S550 using the Fireworks Show setting. I do not remember the exact name of the piece (it was 1 of 74), and I had a hard time choosing because I have over 250 pictures which can be seen by going to my Facebook album page.
-Jeremy Itskin

Shooting Summary:
Canon 10D; ISO 100; f/13; Kit Canon 28-80mm Lens @ 28mm; 4.5 second exposure; tripod mounted with cable shutter release.
Story:
This was a neighborhood (not professional) display that took place in the local park. My buddy had decided to spend around $600 on nothing but artillery shells, so I was glad I had my camera/tripod with me. Unfortunately the park had quite a bit of foliage...I set up in the best spot I could but I still managed to get a branch in the shots. I was about 20 yards away from the launches and was shooting nearly straight up. I got a ton of great photos since they were launching shells for over an hour. This one stood out due to the feathery bursts of two shells and that the shells took up the entire frame of the image.
-Kris Sample

Canon EOS 7D
f16
exposure 8 seconds
Iso 200
28mm
My first submission to the Shooting Challenge. This was one of the last fireworks my neighbor shot off Sunday night, which happened to be one of the better pictures.
-Peter Brousseau

Shot with a Canon Rebel XSI
18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Canon EF-S Zoom Lens
Shot at ISO 100, f/5.6, with a shutter speed of 6 seconds.
This was my 32nd straight year of attending the Kaboom Fireworks in Red Bank, NJ. My friends and I camped this location for 6 hours to get the shot. The barge that fires the fireworks sits in the middle of the Navesink River, and the entire display is synchronized to music via Q104.3 out of New York City. I ended up with several photos on the night, and thanks to my supporters on Facebook, this one ended up the favorite.
-Scott Hamilton

Camera: Canon Rebel T1i
Lens: 18-55 mm Kit Lens
Aperture: f/11
Shutter Speed: 4 secs
Focal Length: 39 mm
ISO: 100
The Fourth of July usually means rain in Seattle and true to form it rained a good portion of the afternoon. I had spent the day scouting for a good vantage point of the Gas Works Park show but didn't have much luck due to parking issues and sightline issues. On a prayer, I went to Gas Works Park hoping that the rain discouraged some people from going out and I was able to get into the park and find a decent place to start firing away. This is my favorite of the bunch.
-Anthony May

The shot I submitted if from a New Jersey fireworks show,I found myself without a tripod but two napkins and a sandy beach later I had a rigged up, packed sand, stand. The shot was with a Canon T1i(500D) at an exposure of 4 seconds, f/9,36mm Focal lenth and Iso 100 ,I took about 325 shots during the show,this being the most appropriate. The funny thing about all of it was that one of the venders was selling vuvzulas,so there was a funny world cup drone,of course I bought one.
-Darren Treat

Equipment: Canon 20D, 17-40 F4L lens, no-bells-or-whistles tripod, and a push button corded remote shutter release. Aperture and Photoshop CS3 used for post processing and minor touch ups.
Settings and Technique: This shot was at F10 and ISO 400 for 7 seconds. The lens was fully zoomed out to 17mm. My basic technique was to expose correctly for the city at about 5 seconds of exposure time, and then just use the remote to leave the shutter open for 2-4 firework bursts, and close it. That way the city was illuminated correctly, and the pictures didn't get too busy from tons of bright firecracker bursts. I also watched to see where they exploded, hoping that some would explode in different areas of the sky, and if they did I immediately closed the shutter.
-Conrad Stoll

There are many places that sell fireworks in Florida and one good place light them on the 4th of July was on Daytona Beach. You can see a couple miles of fireworks displays as well as many of the people watching them. It's also interesting to see several people who are in the water, ignoring what is happening behind them. Photograph was taken with a Nikon D3S, a Nikkor 24-70 F2.8 at 70mm, and 15 seconds at F18 with ISO 800.
-Ken Moore

Shot at the fourth display in Lafayette, IN.
Canon 7D, 1s exposure, 160 iso, f/3.2
I went around to various locations. I didn't use a tripod at one of them and it produced my favorite shot of the weekend.
-Mark Scherschel, II

Nikon D40X
30 sec Exposure on a tripod
18mm Nikkor Lens
f/8.0
ISO: 200
Shot in a mining town north of my home. I like that I caught two other fireworks across the town.
It was raining on and off so I had to hold my jacket up over my camera to keep the rain from getting on the lens. Probably looked like a batman impersonator.
-Brettward Massecre

I used a Canon 20D for this shot, with the ISO at 100 with a 10 second exposure time.
Anyway, I took this on the riverfront of our town's annual Petunia Fest/Independence Day celebration in Dixon, Illinois. I was pretty excited to take my first extended exposure shot of fireworks going off, the only problem was that I don't own a tripod. So I set my camera down on the hitch & wagon of a truck and tucked the camera's strap under its lense to aim it at the sky. Besides the fact that I got a bunch of axle grease on me, I was probably blocking the view of a dozen or so families. All in a day's work.
-Daniel Mendez

Shot with my Canon Rebel XSi, ISO 200, f/20.0, and a 5 second exposure. For the first four seconds I kept the camera still getting the green fire works and the beginning of the red, with a second left I moved the camera down a little creating the bumps at the end of the red fireworks.
I was in Boston, so I decided to stay an extra day and go to the "Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular" to get a shot for the photo contest. I arrived about four hours early on the Cambridge side of the Charles river. Unfortunately I severally underestimated how many people come to these fireworks. So instead of finding a good spot, I decided to grab a bite to eat. I ended up with about an hour and a half to find a spot, but there was not a spot to be found. After walking for an hour and fifteen minuets searching for a spot of my liking I gave up and sat down, frustrated that I had gone to eat instead of finding a spot first. But where I had chose to sit ended up not being to bad although It definitely was not great. So I set up my tripod where I had been sitting and started shooting.
-Egan Anders

I took this shot in Washington DC for the 4th from a friends apartment.
ISO 100
f/11
shutter speed 4 seconds
-Sally Reese

All photos were taken with a Nikon
D300 with the Nikon 18-200mm lens. The entry picture was taken at ISO
200, f16 with a 5.2 second exposure (Bulb mode, using a remote release
cable). These fireworks are a very impressive display, yet put on by a
very small town in north east Ohio. We had a party earlier in the day
with both sides of my family, and had caravaned about 6 cars to a
neighbor's sister's house which is separated from the park where the
fireworks are launched by a little bit of forest. We were about as
close as you could get to where they were launching them off.
-Kenny

Forgot my camera so I could not get any good ones of the fireworks. I got lucky with this one of my cousin shooting off my uncles stash. Shot with the default camera on my iPhone 3GS no editing just the shot.
-Zachary Hertel-Therrien

This was shot on a dock watching the fireworks from about 5 miles away in Florida. It had been storming all day and had just recently cleared for the show. Nearing the end of the 30 minute show, the clouds started to build again. The clouds mixed with the smoke from the show created a curtain. The very last picture I took was this shot where the fireworks seem to disappear. This was shot on a Nikon D80 with a 70-300mm lens at 300mm, F32 and a 20 second exposure.
-Sam

This is my entry for fireworks competition. The pic was taken in Addison TX.
Camera/Lens - Nikon D 5000/Tamron 18-270mm
ISO - 200
Focus was set to infinity.
Focal Length- 70mm
-Yash Upadhyay

I had my camera on a tripod. I set my ISO down to 100, my aperture to f/9.0 (though I switched it up a little here and there during the show but not far off) and my shutter speed up to 1 second
Now here's the key: set your lens to MANUAL focus. Furthermore, set your focus to the closest range possible. In other words, if you were to photograph the fireworks, they would be blurry as hell. This will create the billowing effect.
The trick is to snap the photo right before the fireworks burst happens. Over the course of the exposure, turn your focus ring all the way to infinity. In other words, if you were to photograph the fireworks on infinity, they would be crisp and sharp.
-Mark Rosal

Exposure Details:
Sony A500
18mm; f/4; 2 sec; ISO-200
Not much of a story for this picture. I was planning on using my telephoto for the fireworks last night, but we ended up just a few hundred yards from the launching area. Fortunately I had packed my 18-55 which I used for all my shots. I was on my back under my tripod throughout the show. Got some nice pictures, but the wind ruined the symmetry for almost all of them.
-Sidhartha Gupta

Taken with an iPhone 4.
My friends and I went to our town's 4th of July fireworks festival the other day (the 4th of July). My friend Louie brought a ton of camera equipment to take a picture for this challenge. I just took a picture of him on my phone.
-Alec Lambert

This photo was taken in Sacramento, CA after the Sacramento River Cats baseball game on Saturday night. Fireworks shoot off across the river with the bridge becoming a great background! The camera settings used are:
ISO 200
f/11
Exp @ 6 sec
Taken at 20mm with 18-135mm lens on Nikon D80
-Peter Gray

I was actually focusing on the fountains, but someone threw one of those spinning flower in front of me. It didn't even realize I had the picture until I got home, but thought it was very interesting.
Shot with Panasonic DMC-GH1.
ISO: 100
Shutter speed: 1sec
f/5.7
134mm (35mm equivalent)
-Kevin Rising

Taken at Fireworks show in Chicago. Used Nikon D40 with tripod and remote. F11 and about a 3 second exposure. Bulb setting.
-Ruben Fernandez

Taken with a Nikon D300 with a Nikkor 55mm f1.2 stopped down to f8 and a 1" exposure at ISO 200.
It was tough to get a shot with the monument not obscured completely by the smoke. This was a shot very early in the show.
-Brian Canavan

San Francisco fireworks shot from a roof deck. Fog rolled in earlier in the afternoon so there was a moving ceiling of the visible fireworks.
-Cole England

Handheld with a Canon 7D in the "cheap seats" way up high in the hollywood bowl. 1/40th exposure, F5.6, ISO 1250 (thank you 7D low noise!) 16mm focal length. Taken with Sigma 10-22 lens.
-Thomas Hays

The details here are fuzzy due to all the booze. We needed a group shot at the end of the night so everyone piled into the street and we lit off two mortar shells on the ground behind us. The camera was on a tripod in the back of my truck. Here is what I used:
Camera: Olympus E-PL1
Lens: Lumix G 1.7/20 Prime Lens
ISO: 200
Fstop: 4.0
Exposure Time: 15"
- Andy Meehan

Nikon D300s with Nikon 50mm 1.4 mounted on a tripod. Camera in manual mode at ISO 200, f8, with a wired trigger.
Sat in a chair in the front yard to snap shots of my neighbors shooting money into the night sky. I know where the unemployment checks went to this month.
-Marcus Heinrich